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The Writers Guild of America West and Constantin Film have resolved a residuals dispute and ended a brief guild boycott of the German mini-major.
WGA West president Meredith Stiehm, vice president Michele Mulroney and secretary-treasurer Betsy Thomas wrote guild members on Thursday that the two parties had reached an agreement on foreign residuals and health and pension contributions. The company will be paying $1.1 million in residuals to guild writers as part of a resolution on a pending arbitration claim and is once again a WGA signatory company that members can work for.
“All writers owe a debt of gratitude to the WGA members who stopped writing for Constantin upon the issuance of the October 29 Working Rule 8 order,” Stiehm, Mulroney and Thomas wrote to members. “Constantin abandoned its attempt to undercut writers’ standards and conditions because of its need for WGA writers now and in the future.”
A further WGA West statement about the deal said that Constantin and the WGA West had “amicably resolved their dispute.”
In a statement, Constantin said: “Constantin and the WGA have amicably resolved their dispute previously reported. Constantin is signatory to the current MBA.”
On Oct. 29, Stiehm, Mulroney and Thomas wrote members that they were barred from working for the Munich-based production and distribution company, behind such titles as the Resident Evil franchise and the Eiffel film. Citing unpaid residuals “for most foreign reuse” and unpaid pension and health plan contributions, the guild leaders invoked Working Rule 8, which states that “No member shall accept employment with, nor option or sell literary material to, any person, firm or corporation who is not signatory to the applicable MBAs.”
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